Friday Fight Facts: For the animal in you

Friday Fight Facts returns ahead of a massive weekend in Asian MMA – perhaps the biggest we’ve seen in a while, with shows taking place in Manila, Shanghai, Jakarta, Japan, Kuala Lumpur and Sanya. Let’s just dive right in.

ONE: Legends of the World

Kicking off the weekend is ONE Championship, which is back in Manila for two big title fights including the Champ vs. Champ headliner where featherweight kingpin Martin Nguyen takes on Eduard Folayang for the lightweight crown. The co-main event will take place in ONE’s flyweight division, where Danny Kingad challenges Adriano Moraes for his title. Two solid fights right there. Another one to watch is a bantamweight bout between Kevin Belingon and Kevin Chung. Watch the PPV via ONE’s official website.

MIMMA League 5

For those who like a bit of biffo in the morning, Malaysian Invasion’s Season 5 is back with a solid 21-fight card for League Round 5. Previous League rounds have been stacked with highlight reel KO’s from some of MIMMA’s top champs and the action continues this Saturday from Paradigm Mall. MIMMA 5 Tournament leader Jay Jay Muran is set to do battle with amateur veteran Muhamad “The Butcher” Faizal in the flyweight division. Eunice Ong has looked impressive in her MIMMA campaign this year, locking up four wins against the likes of Pei Wee Ng, Nurul Aqilah and Evon Goh. She returns to the women’s flyweight division this weekend to face Gladys Molling, who is yet to find a win in Season 5. MIMMA will be streaming the entire event from its website. Check out The Fight Nation for the full line up.

ROAD FC 44

ROAD FC makes its way back to China this weekend for its 44th installment and while an openweight headliner is sure to produce fireworks, let’s not kid ourselves here. We’ll be tuning in to watch quarterfinals of the $1 Million Lightweight Tournament. More than 40 fighters participated in international trials of the $1 Million Lightweight Tournament, which was then narrowed down to 16 for the opening kicked held during ROAD FC 40. In addition to the tournament quarterfinals, Heavyweight Supernova Aorigele will face Fujita Kazuyuki in an 5 openweight main event. The entire show will broadcast for free on YouTube.

One Pride

From ROAD FC in Hebei, we head to Jakarta where ONE Pride 14: Never Surender, kicks off at Kelapa Gading. The card is fairly light on experienced MMA talent, but that’s the whole point. One Pride prides(?) itself on developing up-and-coming local fighters through bouts on live national television, and the mushrooming of MMA-dedicated gyms. Tapology has all the deets.

Animal FC 2

The second installment of Animal FC will be happening this Saturday at the Pearl in Shanghai. A total of 13 fights including, one boxing, five kickboxing and seven MMA scraps have been lined up for your entertainment. We’re yet to find a way to watch this online, but should things change, you’ll be the first to know.

Pancrase 291

Sunday is proving to be a massive day for fight fans, but perhaps most will be tuning into UFC Fight Pass for the second last show of Pancrase in 2017, Pancrase 291. The Middleweight King Of Pancrase Belt will be on the line when Rocky Kawamura defends his title against Yuki Nimura. There’s a massive 18 fights going down. It all kicks off early afternoon from the Differ Ariake in Tokyo. Differ Ariake will close it’s doors in December, so watch it while you can.

Shooto Hong Kong

The second installment of Shooto Hong Kong in 2017 happens in Hong Kong this Sunday at the Southorn Stadium in Wan Chai, where gyms from across the city to go head-to-head. Shooto has been a consistent force in Hong Kong’s amateur MMA development and this weekend is no different. There’s no means to watch Shooto, but follow Shooto on Facebook for updates.

Kunlun Fight 67

If you’re still reading (thank you, btw), we finish with Kunlun Fight 67 which takes place at the Mangrove Tree International Conference Center in Sanya, China. Kunlun has a few belt up for grabs and this Sunday the crowning of a new 66kg champion will take place, as will the quarter-finals for the 70kg tournament and an appearance by Buakaw who will face Marouan Toutouh. Like Pancrase, Kunlun has 18 fights which will be streamed on its mobile app, but only if you have an iPhone.

UPCOMING (ON TAPOLOGY)

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